


the stories of us

by miss_potatoe



Category: Golden Child (Korea Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Mental Health Issues, Multi, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Soulmate-Identifying Marks
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-08
Updated: 2019-05-10
Packaged: 2019-10-06 16:12:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 14,885
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17348402
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/miss_potatoe/pseuds/miss_potatoe
Summary: Bong Jaehyun is a freshman joining college for the first time, he encounters many people and friends. Will he be able to survive with his absolute hatred to the ‘soulmate mark’?





	1. ~ when life sends you a big serving of nostalgia and new experiences ~

It was known that everyone had a soulmate in this world, but the harsh reality was that some didn’t have anyone. Jaehyun didn’t believe in such superstitions after being brought up by a single father, that was betrayed by the soulmate legacy. He had no-one and was isolated, he later moved on to adopting Jaehyun in pure desperation to raise a child.

Jaehyun and his father had a bond no-one could describe, even though not being blood-related, they loved each other as much as they could. Every Saturday morning they would go to the nearest bakery and buy the bread that was freshly baked out of the oven. Jaehyun’s father was an artist who held many feelings and was able to express feelings in a way Jaehyun would never be able to achieve. Jaehyun’s father was his inspiration, his only caring relative.

He grew up looking for ways to express feelings in his own way. Jaehyun remembered when he was 6 years old, he strolled the paths of the city, mesmerised by colourful neon signs that lit up the atmosphere. He walked past a specific busker who strummed his guitar softly, entrancing everyone with his playing and beautiful singing. Jaehyun’s mind clicked, he wanted to be able to sing like that.

He also remembered watching a play for his dad’s birthday. The way they twirled, sparkled and moved expressed emotions in a way Jaehyun was perplexed. He was stuck, ‘will I be able to become like that’, but looking at his dad and realising how far he’s come, without a significant other. Jaehyun realised anything was possible.

Jaehyun was an ambiverted, awkward child. He hated explaining to people that he was an adopted child and that he had no mother, but besides that, you could almost call him normal. No-one knew of his dreams to be a singer or an actor besides his father. He practised singing at night in his bedroom when his father was sound asleep.

Jaehyun was not a poor child, his father’s artworks weren’t very famous, but were sold at prices that gave Jaehyun’s dad enough money to spoil him. They could afford a house much bigger than the one they lived in but settled for a smaller, homey house.

Jaehyun’s childhood was filled with fond memories. His tenth birthday was only celebrated with his father, it was a special day, indicating the time where his soulmate would have a symbol that represented Jaehyun engraved into their skin. Jaehyun didn’t really care, he was happy that he was now a double-digit age and that he could celebrate it with his father.

A month later, Jaehyun was sound asleep when he felt a burning sensation on his arm. He was startled and stared at the newfound symbol on his arm. It was a small microphone with music notes coming out if it. Jaehyun was disgusted, he knew better than not to trust the symbol. He could live life like his father, and not need a soulmate. Jaehyun wore a long-sleeved shirt that day, making sure the symbol was not in his dad’s line of sight.

This was proven useless when Jaehyun was eating his dinner, his sleeve fell down his arm revealing the symbol. He heard his father gasp, “Jaehyun, is that what I think it is!?” he said excitedly. “Ahh, yeah…” Jaehyun said, averting his gaze away from his father. His father frowned, “when did you get this, and why didn’t you tell me?” Jaehyun’s father said, obviously hurt. “I got it this morning and I didn’t tell you, because frankly, I don’t need a soulmate. I want to be like you!” Jaehyun replies, making his father smile. “You are yourself Jaehyun. Just because I don’t have one doesn’t mean you can’t have one either!”.

His father was unexpectedly happy for Jaehyun that day. “Jaehyun, your soulmate is the same age as you! Not to mention they have something to do with singing! Ah, what if you two become a soulmate duo and perform and sing together” Jaehyun’s father wiped a fake tear of his cheek, “I would be so proud!”. Jaehyun chuckles at his father’s dramatic display of excitement towards him gaining a soulmate. 

***

Jaehyun sighed as he thought of the memories of his childhood. It was the night before his first day of college, which if you ask me is pretty terrifying. It felt like schooling before college was just preparation for what’s about to come next. Everyone who joined was new, no familiar groups of friends, no familiar teachers. It’s all going to be new and Jaehyun didn’t really like the concept of change. Nonetheless the school he was going to was an art college, a chance to reach further to his dreams. 

***

The sight was amazing to Jaehyun, the buildings itself were huge. GCB, the most anticipated college to get into for adequate student’s with adequate scores. The not to mention going from being the oldest in high school to a freshman in college was definitely a change. Another huge change was that he had to leave his dad. That was the hardest thing to do in the morning, his dad was just crying everywhere. Jaehyun was sad too, but he knew this was going to happen eventually. He took the change in a positive way, he was going to make his father proud.

Jaehyun carried his boxes towards his future dorm and humble abode. Jaehyun took note of the number, room 77. He slowly opened the door, when he saw a boy with bright orange hair opening his boxes in the living room of his dorm. “Woah! Hello!” The orange haired kid flashed an adorable grin. Jaehyun eased himself through the doorway and set his boxes onto the kitchen counter, which was connected into the living room. 

Jaehyun turned to the orange haired kid, who was curiously staring at Jaehyun, “Hey, I’m your roommate. My name is Jaehyun” I say waving my hand shyly, Joochan laughed heartily, “I already know you're my roommate douche, My name is Joochan. I’m really loud so I’m sorry if I ever make you uncomfortable or something” Joochan says while scratching the back of his neck. “Well you already called me a douche so I guess my first day here is already great,” Jaehyun says while wiping a fake tear from his cheek. He sees Joochan’s smile slowly widening, “I think we’ll be great friends!” Joochan says while shaking Jaehyun’s hand rather aggressively. 

***

The dorms they were given exceeded Jaehyun’s expectations, he thought that they would be pretty old and dingy, but they were renovated and each wall was painted with a clean white colour. A twin size bed with a white headboard and a small white desk stood on opposite corners of the room. A small white closet was crammed at the back of the room as well. Jaehyun concluded that the room’s layout was probably taken out of an Ikea magazine.

Even though the room was plain and white, Jaehyun thought it was an excellent canvas to decorate on. Without any more delay Jaehyun was put to work for the next two hours.

***

“Woah! It looks really nice in here” Joochan exclaimed as he walked into Jaehyun’s newly decorated room, with a plate of banana bread in his hands. Jaehyun swivelled around on his desk chair, facing Joochan. “You like it? I tried to make it as similar as my room back home” Jaehyun says while glancing around the room. Fairy lights were hung around the top of the walls, pictures of Jaehyun’s old friends and dear pictures of his father were placed in a cluster on his wall. EXO posters were nearly everywhere not to mention another few idols and celebrities Joochan couldn’t recognise. His bed was done neatly with a red and black comforter, topped with the fluffiest pillows.

“It looks really homey in here, also can I steal your pillows?” Joochan says while dreamily looking at the pillows, “Sure why not” I say while laughing at Joochan’s expression. Joochan smiled at Jaehyun’s sense of humour and offered a piece of banana bread to Jaehyun”Take some banana bread, you have bread posters everywhere, it’s obvious you love bread” “Wait are you sure?” Jaehyun hesitated to take the bread, as much as he loved bread he had tales some common courtesy. “Mhm, don’t worry, I stole it from my hyung’s kitchen anyways” Joochan says while wiping off the crumbs of banana bread his sweater. 

“You already know people who go to this college?” Jaehyun says while frowning, he hadn’t really considered that people might have friends before they came to college. He thought it was going to be like another year of school.

“Mhm, they’re really nice hyungs. I only know 3 who attend this college, but they’re pretty cool! I’ll introduce you after we finish our friend” Joochan says while messily eating his bread. Jaehyun smiled at Joochan’s immaturity, “Yeah, I’d love tha-“ Jaehyun words were cut off when he could no longer utter them, due to a loud scream. “HONG FUCKING JOOCHAN, WHERE IS MY BANANA BREAD!”, Jaehyun dropped his banana bread due to scream that came out of nowhere. “Welp, at least we don’t need to don’t need to walk to their dorm anymore,” Joochan says unexpectedly calmly while licking the remaining breadcrumbs off his fingers and standing up.

Joochan and Jaehyun walked out into the hallway to see a small boy, face red with anger. “Did we leave the door open?” Jaehyun says with confusion. “Joochan!” the boy yelled, Joochan stammered, “ah-I didn’t really mean to make you angry… it was freshly baked and yummy. Also, I shared some with Jaehyun! He said it was really good! He’s my new roommate!” Joochan says, hopefully being able to change the topic.

“Oh! Hi Jaehyun, I’m this idiot’s hyung! My name is Seungmin, nice to meet you!” the small boy said while waving shyly. Joochan sighed in relief, thinking he successfully changed the topic. “Don’t think I’ve forgotten about you yet! I’m letting you off today, you should thank Jaehyun!” Seungmin retorts, crossing his arms in a stern motion. “Nice to meet you too, Seungmin.”


	2. ~ when life decides to send you a package of “I missed you!”s and bad first impressions ~

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> yay! another chapter! it’s quite confusing to me and I tried to edit it a couple of times but it’s not working out so well! I’m really sorry, but I’ll strive to make the next chapters higher in quality... Thank you for reading!!

Joochan sat on the grey couch provided with the dorm, exhaling as he saw his hyung and his new friend bond over bananas and bread. It was the most stupid conversation he was ever forced to hear. Seungmin chuckles at Joochan’s jealous facial expression due to his hyung and friend getting along so well while excluding Joochan.

“Joochan, there is a party that’s going take place in the theatre. Sungyoon hyung is running it for the new freshman who joined today, so I suggest you and Jaehyun go and meet everyone. Oh, and don’t worry, there will most likely be alcohol, but no-one going to try to kill you” Seungmin says while standing up, “I have to go meet my soulmate, otherwise he’s going to kill me, make good choices and don’t get too drunk!” “Joochan, that was for you,” Seungmin said, leaning his head towards Joochan’s direction. 

Joochan frowned and whined, “Hey! I can hold my alcohol!” Seungmin splutters, “Your underage, that’s what you are. Well, I’ll get going! Bye guys!” Seungmin says while approaching the exit of the dorm.

“You’ve drunk while being underage?” Jaehyun says turning his head to Joochan, unimpressed, “Hey! Don’t look at me like that!” Joochan exclaimed as if he was being accused, “it was all in courtesy of my hyungs, they’re crazy!” Joochan says while shuddering. 

“Sure.” Jaehyun sarcastically said while subtly glaring at Joochan, “well I’m technically of age now so I guess I can drink…” Jaehyun remembered when he turned of age, his dad bought beer to celebrate. It was bitter and unpleasant on Jaehyun’s tongue, he recalled his dad’s shallow laughs as he threw up in the in the sink that day. 

“I don’t think I’m interested in drinking a lot though. My dad already gave me a lecture on peer pressure, so I guess I’m alright”. Jaehyun says, opposed to the idea of passing out

“So is that a yes, should we go to the party?” Joochan questions, “I don’t mind, I’ll go If you do,” Jaehyun says cheekily. Joochan jumped off the couch grinning, “Let’s go then!”

***

Jaehyun wasn’t familiar with party culture but Seungmin assured it was safe, so he decided to go. He liked meeting others and making new friends so Jaehyun didn’t mind. He wore blue jeans and a striped t-shirt with a black jacket. He didn’t really know what to do with his hair, so he left it as it’s natural curly form. Jaehyun took one last look at himself, adjusting his hair, before walking into the hall to meet Joochan. Jaehyun took note of his dressing style, it was simple but sophisticated. He wore a pink sweater that was tucked into black jeans which complimented his orange hair nicely.

“Ready?” I said to Joochan who was fiddling with his bag before turning his head. “Ready.”

***

The party was held in the college theatre, it was huge with red fold-up chairs stretching from each side of the room. It was grand, Jaehyun didn’t expect any less from the college, considering the college’s reputation. People were scattered across the cream marble tiles that made the floor of the theatre, but it was exactly like Seungmin said, many people had glasses of punch or alcohol in their hands, but it wasn’t hardcore partying. It was pleasant to Jaehyun.

Joochan grabbed Jaehyun’s hand and pulled him through a sea of people until they reached a boy. He had strong features and presented a strong but comforting aura. “Sungyoon-hyung!”

Sungyoon turned to Joochan, facial features hinting that he recognised Joochan. Sungyoon embraced Joochan in a big and long hug before releasing him and resting his hands on Joochan’s shoulders, “Wow, I thought you wouldn’t come. Who told you?” Sungyoon said while turning to pour fruit punch into two glasses, “Seungmin” Joochan says while taking the drink into his hands. “And who are you?” Sungyoon softly passes the drink into Jaehyun’s hands.

“My name is Jaehyun, ah- may I ask what’s in here?” Jaehyun says while sniffing the drink. “Nothing bad, it won’t make you drunk. Don’t worry” Sungyoon softly smiled at Jaehyun’s concern. “My name is Choi Sungyoon, I’m a part of the student council… I actually had the courage to apply for it this yea- hey!” Sungyoon playfully hit Joochan as he snickered at Sungyoon’s shy nature. 

“Ow that hurt, haven’t your parents told you to be nice to people? Do you have social skil- OW!” Joochan emitted another yell as Sungyoon giggled. Jaehyun smiled at the silly act Joochan and Sungyoon put up, realising that living college might be more fun than Jaehyun thought it would.  
***  
Joochan watches as Jaehyun leaves towards to tables filled with cheap pizza and Krispy Creme doughnuts and Sungyoon leaves towards other council members. Joochan would pig out junk food as well, but he notices that the alcohol in his stomach wasn’t settling well. Seungmin was right, Joochan really couldn’t take his alcohol. Joochan felt his head spin, until he felt a small tap on his back, as he swivelled around he noticed that the person he was now face to face with was familiar. 

“Jibeom?!” Joochan screeched, Jibeom was immediately wrapped in an affectionate hug, “I missed you so much! You never told me you were coming back! Joochan’s heart swelled up as Jibeom grinned, intertwining their hands. 

“Honestly it was meant to be a surprise” Jibeom scratches his neck, embarrassed. “Seungmin and Sungyoon told me that you would be coming to GCB, I decided to apply last minute…”. Joochan was astounded, Jibeom, the awkward overachiever had applied to GCB just for him. “Jibeom you seriously didn’t need to apply for me! I know you love me, but seriously why?” Joochan hit Jibeom on the arm, a tipsy and stupid grin showing.

“Are you seriously getting drunk right now? Jo- your underage!” Jibeom pryed Joochan’s hands off his arm but failed as Joochan wrapped his arms around his shoulders instead. “Chill Beomie, it’s just punch. I’m not drunk!” Jibeom slapped his forehead, already tired of Joochan’s antics. 

“Come, let's get some water,” Jibeom said as he slung Joochan’s arm around his neck, dragging Joochan away.

***

“HELLO EVERYBODY! I’d like to announce an announcement! It’s very, very important” Joochan slurred, obviously not sober at all. All attention was turned to the small mike set up that was right in front of the big theatre stage. Jibeom smacked his head, again. He looked up to the figure who stood up, slightly wavering in posture and made a mental note to NEVER give Joochan alcohol again. “This mark, what the fuck is it?” Joochan rolled his sleeve down, to reveal a small tattoo like drawing, his soulmate mark. 

“It looks like a chessboard, but there aren’t any pieces on it! Is my soulmate a nerd, and why the hell is there lines… or cracks in this ‘chessboard’?” Disapproving grunts came from the crowd, they made Jibeom worried. “I swear I have lost several hours contemplating on how freaking weird my soulmate is!” 

Jibeom’s eyes widened, he needed to stop him. Right now, otherwise his reputation is dead, Jibeom thought as speed walked towards Joochan to get him away from the crowd's attention. But luckily someone made it there before him. 

Sungyoon grabbed Joochan’s wrist firmly “What the fuck are you doing” he whispered into Joochan’s ear. Sungyoon turned to the crowd “What Joochan means is that we all should be free-spirited and talk about our feelings without hesitation. You batch of freshman are the future of GCB, everyone is unique! Let's all enjoy this party freely, shall we!” Sungyoon had saved the day.

After the crowd had settled from Joochan’s outrageous outburst. Jibeom ran to Sungyoon and gave him a huge hug, surprising Sungyoon. “I missed you Hyung!” Jibeom giggled as Sungyoon pinched his cheeks, “Good to see you Jibeom, also how the hell do we deal with this mess?” 

Sungyoon points to a Joochan, sprawled on the floor muttering “Helpppp!” while clutching his stomach. Jibeom sighed, “I’ll take care of him Hyung, thank you for saving his reputation, I was worried for a second. But yeah, you do your thing Hyung…” 

Jibeom slowly fiddles with his fingers, recalling how much he owed Sungyoon. His mind delved into his past, mood drooping until he felt his someone ruffle his hair. 

“Jibeom, that’s over. You have us.” Sungyoon’s smile reassured Jibeom. ‘I’ll be fine’ Jibeom thought as he lifted Joochan off the floor once again, dragging him to safety.

***

While Jibeom helped Joochan become somewhat sober and Sungyoon kept the party in check, someone else sat on the stairs by the exit sign of the theatre. He softly sobbed, not knowing what to do. He had found his soulmate, a drunk idiot who had supposedly called him weird. He was in a dilemma, head splitting with pain. His soulmate was an actual douche, and he could do nothing but curse the fates.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> follow me @golchaboo on twitter to support this fic, or if you just want to become friends because I’d love to! :-)


	3. ~ when life lets you meet new people by making your roommate drunk ~

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> another chapter guys! thank you for those who actually talked to me on twitter, your encouragement and advice gave me so much motivation to complete this fic! this chapter is a little bit short but I still hope you enjoy it!   
> also tbz x golcha, there’s a spoiler!
> 
> thank you once again!!!

Jaehyun stares at the doughnuts, in dilemma. Chocolate doughnut, or strawberry doughnut? Jaehyun intently stared at both doughnuts, biting his lip, hoping to come to some sort of conclusion. Jaehyun thought that chocolate doughnuts were classic, but strawberry doughnuts were sublime and he didn’t want to take two because then he would proceed to eat the whole tray.

“Aah, what to do~?” Jaehyun bought his hand up to his lips, thinking that the chocolate doughnut is probably better to take. “Strawberry is the way to go, they’re really good I tried them both but strawberry was better.”Jaehyun whipped his head around to find the voice was from a random boy. His hair was dyed blue, face slightly chubby but he was adorable. His face offered kindness and soothed Jaehyun’s heart.

“Oh! Thank you, I was just about to take the chocolate doughnut!” Jaehyun says as he reaches for the strawberry doughnut and places it in a tissue, turning back to the boy. “My name is Haknyeon,” he said while offered his hand, grinning. “Jaehyun” he replies while shaking Haknyeon’s hand back. 

Haknyeon smiled softly at the endearing sight of Jaehyun indulging in his doughnut, “It’s good right?” Jaehyun whipped his head around to the sight of Haknyeon grinning. “It really is amazing, for a cheap college party that is,” Jaehyun replied while Haknyeon threw his head back from laughter.

***

Jaehyun felt the cold air tickle his face as he exited the college theatre with Haknyeon, who was currently jiggling with his dorm keys. “Ready?”. Haknyeon was kind enough to walk Jaehyun back to the College dorms as he felt woozy from the newly ingested alcohol. 

“I still can’t believe they actually gave rum to underage College students!” Jaehyun exclaimed while waving his hands in the air with exaggeration, “well many people drink rum with eggnog, so I don’t think it’s really bad…” Haknyeon said while catching up to Jaehyun’s pace while they walked. 

“You strangely are exceptionally educated about food. It’s weird but hey, I love food too,” Jaehyun says, frown slowly turning into a smile, “I’m always teased about eating too much, but it’s alright! I’m sure I’ll find someone who loves my fat self!” Haknyeon dramatically wipes his fake tears as Jaehyun draped his hands around Haknyeon’s neck from his back. It warmed Jaehyun knowing he made a precious friend on the first day of his stay here. 

“We’re here! Room 77 right? I’ll keep that in mind, beware if I come knocking on your door begging for food!” Haknyeon cheers as he opened the door for Jaehyun to follow, “Thank you so much Haknyeon, wait should we exchange numbers before you leave?” Jaehyun questioned, wary. Haknyeon immediately pulled out his phone, handing it to Jaehyun to punch in his number. 

“See you soon Jaehyun!” Haknyeon said as he approached the exit of the room, “See you!” Jaehyun grinned, Haknyeon was an adorable person. 

***

Jaehyun came out of the shower, fresh, changed, hair dripping, ready to flop into bed when a familiar ring coursed through the dorm. Jaehyun ran to the front door, opening it to reveal a boy with shaggy hair, covering the top edges of his eyes, holding a drunk Joochan.

“Ah, what?” Jaehyun said while looking at the drunk Joochan and then to the handsome shaggy dude struggling to hold Joochan straight. “I’ll explain later- can we get him to his room first” Jibeom groaned as Joochan wrapped his hands around Jibeom quite ungracefully. Jaehyun immediately moved out his way so Jibeom could enter the dorm.

As soon as Jibeom pushed Joochan onto his bed, Joochan passed out, slurring random words until he fell asleep. “Thank the lord for that” Jibeom says as he wiped off the sweat on his forehead, visibly drained. “I’m sorry for barging in like that, I just needed to deal with him…” Jibeom says, wary of Jaehyun’s confused stare, Jaehyun sighed deeply and ruffled his damp hair, “I’ll make tea.”

***

The tension in the air was quite awkward, but Jaehyun decided to break it first “Why was Joochan drunk? Did he get drugged or something?” Jaehyun said, utterly confused. Jibeom sat back onto the couch, crossing his arms “ever since we were children he’s always had the worst metabolism ever, like he would get sick often and always complain he was going to vomit every single time we went on road trips.” A sense of nostalgia crossed over his eyes. 

“So you're saying the punch made him that drunk?” Jaehyun questioned, Jibeom just nodded his head. “You guys were childhood friends?” Jaehyun said sipping his tea, looking for conversation. “Mmhm, Me and Joochan went to a singing summer camp together, we met each other with two other hyungs. I don’t know if you know them, but their names are Sungyoon and Seungmin. On the first day we were put into groups and even though we didn’t get along at first, we became precious friends.” 

“Joochan means a lot to me, so please take care of him- oh, right what’s your name again?” Jibeom says, not believing that he didn’t know this guy’s name after he had burst through his dorm with his drunk roommate. “Ahh right, my name is Jaehyun Bong! Nice to meet you-“ “Jibeom, that’s my name.” Jaehyun smiled at the small talk the both had. It was easy to get along with Jibeom, Jaehyun wished to spend more time talking to him but it was close to midnight and their introductory lectures were tomorrow. 

***

Jibeom was stunned at the sight of Jaehyun. He couldn’t understand how someone had the ability to look adorable and handsome at the same time?! Especially with his damp red hair, Jibeom was almost swooning, but he also felt personally victimised by this boy's visuals. 

“Also, before I go can I ask for your number?” Jaehyun immediately raised his eyebrows in surprise, “Gaah! No not like that! Just so I can check up on him frequently, he needs a lot of care and help… I kinda feel bad for his soulmate.” Jaehyun’s body went rigid at the mention of soulmates. “Sure,” Jaehyun said whipping his phone out for Jibeom. Jaehyun carefully watched Jibeom’s eyelashes flutter as he typed in his number.

*** 

Jaehyun flopped onto his bed, clutching his phone to his chest. Thinking about the people he had met today. All Jaehyun could say is if this happened every day in college. He would be done for.


	4. ~ when life doesn’t let you have a single peaceful first day of college ~

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> woop another chapter- I’m sorry if it’s lame~ 
> 
> I hope u enjoy it (ps I’m depressed so yep)

Jaehyun violently shakes Joochan, “Joochan wake up! You have your first lectures today!” Jaehyun said through pants of exhaustion, “Blah, blah, mine are in the evening. I’ll wake up later” Joochan says, turning and burying his head into his duvet. Jaehyun smiled at Joochan’s adorable child-like behaviour, “Alright, I woke up early and made some average breakfast, please eat it” Jaehyun says tapping Joochan’s shoulder lightly, “Mmm” Joochan slurred as a reply. 

Jaehyun softly closed Joochan’s bedroom door behind him, careful not to wake him up, he threw his black puffy coat on, facing to the cold air of his college, ready to attend his first lecture.

***

The hall was exactly what Jaehyun imagined, a big projector at the front with numerous seats on defending stairs- exactly like you see in the movies! The walls were a pale faded cornflower blue and the desks were constructed from hazelnut wood. 

Jaehyun glanced at the numerous seats he could sit in until someone hollered his name out. “Jaehyun! Here!” Jibeom yelled, waving his hands to catch Jaehyun’s attention. Jaehyun grinned at Jibeom’s shaggy hair flying around as he waved his arms like a maniac. 

Jaehyun softly pulled out the chair beside Jibeom’s, “I never knew you took the same lectures as me! I didn’t even ask you about it when I came over last night!” Jibeom says, burying his head into his arms in embarrassment, “Hey I don’t blame you, the situation yesterday wasn’t the best either” Jaehyun said, softly patting Jibeom’s back. “Is Joochan feeling better now?” Jibeom questioned while rising his head to make eye contact with Jaehyun, “I guess, he couldn’t wake up though. I think he was really just drained- ah the lecturer is here” Jaehyun says, facing the front of the room. 

***

The lecture felt like torture to Jaehyun, it felt like the least of his worries. He kept on wondering about Joochan’s health if he had eaten the breakfast he had made for him. But something else bothered him, this weird feeling about Jibeom. He hadn’t got to know him quite well, yet it had felt like they had been long lost friends, like someone he waited for. It was such a foreign feeling to Jaehyun he couldn’t figure what it was- “Jaehyun? Are you even listening to the lecture?” 

Jaehyun’s head shot up, “Wait- what? Why is everyone getting up we still have half an hour of this lecture” Jaehyun says, utterly perplexed. “You really weren’t listening right? We were assigned something, it’s quite big but it’s due at the end of the semester so we’ll have plenty of time. We have to reconstruct a song into a different genre while being able to keep the vocal properties of the song, it sounds quite hard, but the lecturer said the course will help us with the assignment, it’s also done in partners and you don't have a choice but to be mine” Jibeom explained calmly, while smirking at the end. 

“Ah, yeah sure I don’t mind that,” Jaehyun said, ruffling his hair as he felt quite guilty for not listening, “The lecturer gave us the next 30 minutes to get into partners and start planning the whole thing, it’s too noisy. I suggest we go to your dorm or something- that way I can check up on Joochan” Jibeom said while standing up and picking his books up to head outside, Jaehyun quickly nodded his head and followed Jibeom to the exit of the lecture hall.

***

Jibeom and Jaehyun walked out of the building that held the lecture halls, to find a crowd of people circling a person. An aura that Jaehyun did not want to mess with bled out of the crowd, while Jaehyun wanted to avoid it, Jibeom grabbed Jaehyun’s hand and led him over to the crowd, to see a boy. He only looked a few years older than Jibeom and Jaehyun, but what surprised Jaehyun the most was his forehead, that had a trickle of blood dripping down it. 

Jaehyun could feel Jibeom’s grip on his hand soften in sympathy of the boy, he looked at Jibeom, facial expression full of terror, mouth slightly parted. Jaehyun faced the crowd to see that opposite from the hurt boy was a tall man with a black leather jacket, gleaming with bloodthirsty eyes. 

“You thought you could be a little snitch and fucking do that didn’t you? Sometimes it helps to know your place when your up against people that you have no chance against” said the man words dripping with offence. “You’re just a fucking foreigner in a Korean college! How hopeless could you get, you left this country for better opportunities? Why did you come back then huh? Korea doesn’t deserve foreigner scum like you” the man continuously kicked the poor boy while blurting insults, while the boy looked down at the ground, he was rubbing salt in the wounds that he had already made. 

Jibeom was terrified, memories of his childhood rushed back to him. He wanted to help, but he knew that he was too weak. He could only watch, he could only be one of those bystanders who never did anything or never helped. Jibeom could feel the trauma and anxiety coming back to him- until he felt soft fingers intertwine with his. Jibeom’s head shot up to he Jaehyun’s kind eyes, “it’s alright, someone will help” Jaehyun mouthed carefully. Lost in Jaehyun’s beautiful gaze, Jibeom didn’t notice someone burst through the crowd. 

“What the fucking hell are you doing?” A familiar voice yelled Jibeom spun around, to see tufts of familiar orange hair. “Bitch! Do you want to kill him? what the hell did he do?” Joochan yelled, pushing the tall man with quite a lot of pressure, startling the crowd. The man landed on the ground quite abruptly, he looked around to the disapproving faces around him. “Fucking assholes” he whispered as he stood up and ran away. 

“Hey, you idiot! We didn’t finish our fight!” Joochan yelled, but before he could run after the man Jibeom had him in a firm hand lock. Joochan glared at Jibeom, his gaze filled with anger and his face flushed with a bright red colour reminded him of the old days, where Joochan would stick up for Jibeom. “Please don’t go after him now! Our first priority is to deal with this guys injuries” Jibeom yelled with eyes almost tearing, Jibeom’s gazed moved to Jaehyun carefully helping up poor boy, he looked so distraught and hurt, reminding him too much of his old self.

Joochan looked at the boy and the silhouette of the bully, “Ugh, fine! Bring him to the dorms though, the infirmary doesn’t need to know about this or we don’t know how much trouble this guy’s gonna be in” Joochan said looking at the boy with a concerning expression. “My name is Joonyoung, thank you so much” the boy whispered weakly while looking at the ground with a guilty expression, Jibeom’s heart clenched at his words. “Well Joonyoung, we’re going to the dorms to try to heal you, Jaehyun can you carry him?” Jibeom turned to Jaehyun’s calm expression. “Of course, let’s go quickly,” Jaehyun said, minding the stares they were getting from the slowly disintegrating crowd. 

***

While the boys had headed to the dorm to try to help Joonyoung. A startled boy stood, absent-minded. His soulmate had acted so bravely for a poor boy no-one had wanted to help. Maybe he wasn’t a bad person, maybe he was just an idiot but not a bad person. The boy clutched his t-shirt, he wanted to find out what person his soulmate was, he felt so close to him but so far. He didn’t know how to approach him, he felt so confused and conflicted. But one thing was clear, he was starting to fall for this so-called idiot.


	5. ~ when life makes you choose something that you’re too lazy to do ~

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> hello! this chapter is sorta like a filler and pretty short- but I hope you still enjoy it!
> 
> if u have any suggestions for the story or if u wanna be friends with me because I have none, hmu on twitter @golchaboo
> 
> thank u guys for giving the story kudos and just reading it in general- it makes me motivated to actually finish this <3

“Joochan are you crazy? Like I know you’re stupid, but what made you push that guy the the floor? We’re all going to be in trouble now! Sungyoon hyung has always told you not to solve violence with violence!” Jibeom was furious. Joochan was quiet. Jaehyun made tea silently, while Joonyoung felt terrible. 

“Do you want a repeat of freshman day? How many times do I constantly need to remind you not to be reckless?” Jibeom yelled while Joochan stared at the floor. The tension in the room was too much for Joonyoung, he really just wanted to take a long shower and cry in the corner of his room. 

Jaehyun put a hand on Jibeom’s shoulder to calm him down. “You’re making him terrified,” Jaehyun said, looking in the direction of Joonyoung. Jaehyun treaded slowly to sit beside Joonyoung with a first aid kit and a glass of tea, “Here, drink it. I know you're overwhelmed right now, but it’s going to be fine. You have us now,” Jaehyun smiled at Joonyoung’s surprised face, urging him to take the tea. 

Jibeom was surprised that his mouth immediately flitted into a small smile of the sight of Jaehyun being all domestic and wifey. Jibeom makes eye contact with Joochan’s mischievous grin, consequently making Jibeom glare at Joochan’s expression.

“Ahh- it’s not easy to say this, but thank you all so much for being willing to help me- that has happened to me before, it’s actually been happening for a few months but no one bothered to help. Looks like the new batch of freshman on the very first day of their lectures were the only ones willing to help me…” Joonyoung whimpers, trailing his sentence behind. 

Joochan scooted closer towards Joonyoung and patted his back gently, “Honestly, helping you is my pleasure Joonyoung. I’d like to beat up that bastard’s face if I could-“ “Joochan!” Jibeom interrupts, crossing his arms. Joochan rolls his eyes, making Joonyoung giggle with a wedge of hope that the new academic year would be better than the last one. 

***

“Woah! Holy shit, Jibeom is that a jumping castle?” Joochan says, looking at the inflated jumping castle in the midst of all the club stalls. After the first few weeks of College, all the freshmen had the choice to enter any clubs as an extra-curricular activity. In addition to the day, many stalls were set up to attract student’s attention, but all that attracted Joochan was the jumping castle and the food stalls.

“Let’s go Jibeom!” Joochan said pulling his arm. Under Jibeom’s neutral expression he truly was a child at heart, he couldn’t resist playing either, but the fact that no one was even on the castle showed Jibeom that jumping castles in college, were not cool for college kids. 

“Joochan, let’s actually see if there are any clubs you're interested in joining. I’m also hungry so the moment we finish looking at the clubs we're eating.” Joochan’s smile moved into a grin at the mention of food. Jibeom truly knew how to manipulate Joochan

*** 

Jibeom couldn’t find anything that piqued his interest, he thought of joining a sports club, but the sight of big muscly bodies made Jibeom self-conscious of his rather lean physique, so he decided against it. Joochan, on the other hand, was immediately enthralled by the photography club. He discovered that they would occasionally go on road trips to scenic destinations and take pictures. He also found out that everyone was quite close-knit, making Joochan even more happy to join the club.

Joochan’s happiness could be seen through his subtle skipping as they walked towards the food stalls. “Excited?” Jibeom turned towards Joochan’s side to see him nodding quite satisfied. 

***

Haknyeon had called Jaehyun in the morning, asking if they could check out the clubs together. Jaehyun happily agreed, wanting to spend more time with Haknyeon after his hectic start of college, some relaxation time sounded like heaven. 

Haknyeon was quite confused on what to participate in and was more engaged with socialising with the club members than actually finding a club he wanted to join. But in the end he was most excited about the public speaking club, “We usually spread news about the college, or just do announcements. It’s a pretty boring club but it’s quite exciting as sometimes we partake in decisions that affect our community and the college” the club member explained. Haknyeon slammed his hand onto the table “Sign me up!” he exclaimed, grinning. 

Jaehyun was quite excited about many clubs. They seemed to have great activities to partake in, but nothing screamed to Jaehyun. He was considering just leaving and getting ice cream, just like Haknyeon did. He turned his head to look at Haknyeon’s passionate display of affection towards his strawberry ice cream. “Hey, Jaehyun are you interested in acting?” Haknyeon casually asked, “Yeah, why?” “there’s a drama stall right next to the ice cream tent, I saw it but I wasn’t sure if you wanted to join or not.”

***

The drama club seemed so captivating to Jaehyun, they had weekly rehearsals so the students still had time to study. The person who was running the stall, Lee Mijoo was the funniest person he had met after coming to GCB. She made Jaehyun even more in love with the club. “I’d love to join, Mijoo-“ “That’s my child!” she yelled enthusiastically while slapping his back quite aggressively.

*** 

While everyone enjoyed the atmosphere and exciting aura of club day, a depressed boy sat in the room of his dorm, contemplating his life and what the hell he was supposed to do. He saw a few opportunities to approach his soulmate. He could choreograph a whole dance, he could ask his best friend who funny enough was good at composing music to write a whole song for him, or the simplest option, to just confront him. 

There was no easy way to confess to someone when you're the epitome of coldness and the word ‘emo’. He could only do one thing, which was to ask his roommate to help him. He didn’t bother going to club day, knowing he had no motivation to do something besides his major, “great start to college” he whispered as he struggled to pour the washing liquid into the small cup.


	6. ~ when life makes you confess and makes your friend play cupid ~

Jaehyun hadn’t noticed it, but he, Joochan and Jibeom slowly formed a small friend group. Jibeom and Jaehyun shared more lectures with each other than they did with Joochan, so afterwards they made it a tradition to go out to eat together almost every week. Jaehyun found himself at ease when with Joochan and Jibeom, them all being vocal performance majors helped them bond happily. 

“You haven’t seen my dorm yet, right?” Jibeom says, eyebrows furrowing slightly, Joochan puts his book onto the coffee table as his eyebrows raised, “I actually haven’t- you’ve never invited us” Joochan says dramatically, making Jaehyun chuckle quite amusedly. “Ah, so now it’s my fault! My roommate isn’t the most vocal, he barely comes out of his room beside's going to lectures” Jibeom explains, “I’ll call him, to see if it’s alright for you two to come over.” 

***

“Ahh, Donghyun-” 

Joochan’s heart skipped a beat suddenly, Joochan immediately whipped his head to look at Jibeom who was currently talking with his roommate on the phone. “Is it alright if my friends come over- why did I ask you? Yeah I guess it’s my dorm too, but I don’t want to not have your permission or somethin- alright, got it I’ll bring them over” Jibeom put his phone down and inhaled deeply. 

“Wow, your roommate sounds like an ass,” Jaehyun says, getting up to grab his phone before they left. “Nah, he’s just a bit reserved. He’s actually like secretly nice- kind of like a tsundere. Like on the first day of college he left the dorm early but cooked breakfast for me, I mean it wasn’t the best tasting but he left a sticky note with smiley emoticons, saying to eat all of it or he would never cook again” Jibeom explained while holding the dorm door open for Joochan and Jaehyun.

“It sounds like you have a crush on him,” Joochan said with a mischievous tone, Jibeom just shook his head while smiling, which prompted Joochan to attack him with tickles. “Joochan don’t you have your first club meeting in an hour, I wouldn’t be laying on the floor trying to kill Jibeom with laughter” Jaehyun utters while glaring at the stupidity he was forced to deal with.

Joochan immediately jumped up, realising that he was pressed for time. “Well, I’m going to run ahead,” Joochan said, before dashing across the dorm halls. Jibeom clutched his stomach, slightly panting from the tickle attack. He wrapped one of his hands around Jaehyun’s shoulders as support, Jaehyun just snickered, “the grandpa needs support does he?” triggering Jibeom to attempt to swiftly kick Jaehyun’s leg, but ended up tripping as Jaehyun moved to the side. They both laughed, continuing their banter while trying to follow Joochan as fast as possible.

***

Jibeom’s dorm was quite clean, the walls were decorated with a light grey, and small pots of green plants were placed in random places. It was like it had been designed very carefully, almost looking like those rooms from an Ikea magazine. 

“Woah your dorm is so clean and minimalistic!” Joochan said looking up while twirling to get the full picture of the dorm. “Yeah my roommate did everything before I even settled in, he said if I messed or ruined anything he’d steal my pillows,” Jibeom said, exhaling tiredly. 

"Wow that’s adorable, threatening someone with pillows,” Joochan said, resting his head in his palms. “Haha- he’ll stab you with a fork if he hears you say that, I’ll go get him so I can introduce you.”

****

Donghyun felt his heart physically stop beating, as he peered into the living he saw the radiant smile of a boy with the cutest orange hair, his soulmate. He had no idea what the hell to do, he couldn’t possibly meet his soulmate like this. Panicking, he threw himself unto his bed, covered himself with his duvet- hoping to trick Jibeom that he wasn’t awake.

***

“Huh, guys he’s asleep. I don’t want to risk my mutual friendship with him and wake him up.” Jibeom said, walking back to the living room, obviously deflated. “What person falls asleep in the span of 7 minutes?” Jaehyun said while his eyebrows furrowed into a line as Joochan snorted, “He obviously wants to avoid us, I may be dumb but I’m not dense” Joochan said as he got up. “Gotta go now, to the photography club,” he said while mocking the choreography to Chungha’s new song, ‘Gotta Go’ closely following by Jaehyun’s and Jibeom’s loud laughter.

***

With Joochan leaving, Jibeom and Jaehyun found the perfect opportunity to work on their project, which had been hard for them to accomplish with their different music tastes. But finally, they decided to do a song that was sung by one of Jibeom’s favourite artist, Roy Kim and turn it into a fast-paced electronic like song. Jibeom had already asked Seungmin’s soulmate, Youngtaek to do the honours of composing the song in return of a 3 months supply of instant ramen which Jaehyun kindly offered to pay for, but Jibeom refused. 

All in all, they mostly worked on figuring out the timing of which the words should be sung and slowly singing the parts with the draft Youngtaek created. Both of them were lost through the music, noting down the musical figures as well as the timing between them. Jaehyun felt most calm with Jibeom, he was silly but serious when he needed to be. He made working with him seem like a pleasure and the project seem not as daunting as compared to when they first received it. 

As Jibeom and Jaehyun harmonised, they lost themselves in each other's gazes, almost like a secret connection they had without even speaking- you could say that it was the magic of singing. As they finished the song, they sat in silence, admiring the progress they had made. They were almost done and still had the majority of the semester left. Jibeom didn’t expect the work ethic that he and Jaehyun had to be so effective. It was so weird but so endearing. 

The silence was abruptly broken by the squeaking noise of the door opening, to see a small boy with dishevelled brown hair hiding his shiny brown eyes. Jaehyun was temporarily silenced with how adorable the boy looked, even after waking up from a nap. 

“Oh Donghyun, did we wake you up?” Jibeom said, concerningly looking at the boy. “Oh- not at all, I thought everyone left. I had a really bad headache, I thought your melatonin was Advil. I’m so sorry Jibeom-“ Donghyun said, eyes glinting with sincerity. “Yeah whatever, sit down. This is Jaehyun, my friend from vocal performance” Jibeom said as he gestured towards Jaehyun, Donghyun put on a small smile and waved, making Jaehyun smile at his bashful personality.

As they all talked and joked with playful banter, Jaehyun couldn’t shake something off, and frankly, it scared him. Why would Jibeom need to take Melatonin?

*** 

Just as Jaehyun left the dorm and Donghyun started to walk towards his room. “Wait, child stop right there- that’s actually the most stupid excuse I’ve ever heard. Mistaking my melatonin for Advil? I can’t take tablets so I have melatonin gummies instead, there isn’t any way you can mistake them for Advil, and why did you lie and why did you avoid us? Do you not like me?” Jibeom said sternly, truthfully Jibeom was dishevelled. He never wanted another person to hate him in this world, after being bullied for years- he avoided most social interaction even if people deemed he was good at talking.

The thought of Donghyun hating him made Jibeom want to cry. Donghyun spun around as fast as he could, “What? Why would you think that? I don’t hate you, quite frankly I’m glad to have a roommate like you! I just- I couldn’t meet him right then.” Donghyun’s weak whispers and weak knees lead him to sit beside the dining table, leaning his weight onto the table’s legs, exhaling loudly.

Jibeom just stared at the boy that looked so powerless, almost lying on the floor. Jibeom quietly sat down next to him, patting his soft hair. “I’m sorry for lashing out at you. If there is something that you don’t like about Jaehyun, just tell me and I won’t bring him around you anymore,” Jibeom threaded softly.

Donghyun rubbed his eyes with his sweater paws and began talking, “It’s not Jaehyun- the other one. The one with the orange hair” Donghyun whispered, hiding his face in his jumper like he was embarrassed. “Joochan? What? When did you even meet him? Did he do something stupid? I swear I’ll punch him, what did he do?” Jibeom said, suddenly aggravated. 

“He’s my soulmate.” Jibeom was sure his ears weren't working at that moment. “What the fuck? How did you come to that conclusion- he doesn’t even know you” Jibeom was shook, “At the freshman thing, at the start of the year- the mark he described was something I knew… I thought he was a real ass at first, but when I saw him beat up that bully and saw he was your friend, I thought maybe he was a good person- when I saw him I panicked and acted out of instinct, I really am sorry Jibeom. I just couldn’t do it.” Donghyun finished up, only to be cut off by a big crushing hug.

“You're probably the unluckiest person in the world, he’s a lot to handle. But if he could have anyone, I’m happy it’s you, you’d probably be able to shut him up” Jibeom said while hugging his friend while patting his back. 

Jibeom quickly stood up and put on the scariest grin Donghyun could ever see Jibeom wearing, “Come with me child, Cupid Jibeom is here to accomplish mission Dongchan” Jibeom evilly laughed as Donghyun groaned. He knew he was truly fucked up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wah! another chapter- I really haven’t updated in a long time because school started and blah blah blah~  
> also small shout out to eunice who gives me so much support and motivation to write this fic- I love her to death!!!
> 
> I hope you enjoy~~~
> 
> (my twitter is @golchaboo, I’d love to hear your advice and support- or if you just wanna be friends!)


	7. ~ when life decides to make you emotionally sad ~

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> hello~ I am back, after 11 days! yes I’m sorry but on a more happier note, joochan made his comeback with a digital solo! if you have time, please watch it and support our little Jooch! 
> 
> I hope you enjoy the new chapter, it’s a little angsty but I promise the next chapter will be more lighthearted <3  
> thank you~

Jaehyun nervously tapped his clipboard as he walked into the small green coloured classroom that strangely reminded him of the classrooms he studied at in high school. As he walked inside he saw two tall figures with oversized swords and plastic gold crowns, reciting lines over-dramatically. 

“You left me! You went off with that boy and did all the stuff you were supposed to do with me!” Mijoo screamed, opening her arms in a graceful movement, a red-haired boy that stood across from Mijoo put a hand on his heart and clenched it dramatically. “How dare you assume I performed such insolent acts, I wouldn’t even have dinner with the likes of you!” he said with a squeaky girl voice.

Suddenly it was clear to Jaehyun, they were improvising. Even though it looked like a silly play, they looked like they were having fun. The whole room’s attention was put on the two like there was an imaginary spotlight gleaming onto them. Jaehyun, too involved with looking around the room and memorising faces until someone put a hand on his shoulder.

“Enjoying?” A chubby boy asked, sporting a small smile. Jaehyun turned slightly to face the boy, “Oh yeah! My name is Jaehyun, it’s my first time here- I'm a freshman!” Jaehyun said holding out his hand, “I’m Seungkwan!” The boys said with a firm hold on the handshake. Jaehyun glanced towards the two aspiring actors. “The girl is Lee Mijoo, she’s crazy and extra but has a secret caring heart and the one on the left is Lee Jangjun, he’s just really good at acting extra- hence his popularity in this club.” Jaehyun looked towards Seungkwan, him crossing his hands with a concentrated face. 

“So, uh what do you do in this club?” Jaehyun said quite confused to which Seungkwan answered with a smirk. “You’ll have the time of your fucking life.”

***

Seungkwan was right in many ways, the aura and atmosphere of the classroom made Jaehyun energetic. The introductions and the ooh- and aah-ing made Jaehyun heart race as if they all had been friends for many years. 

“Alright, first years! Where y'all at?” The red-haired boy, supposedly named Jangjun said while clapping his hands to focus attention. A few people stepped out or raised their hands. “Ok, so not many first years but still! We’re really honoured to have- 3 students!” Jangjun exclaimed, not showing an ounce of disappointment, Jaehyun couldn’t repress his laughter at Jangjun’s animated, cheery face.

Jangjun turned to Jaehyun, eyes widening before turning into a cheeky smirk. “Well someone actually has a sense of humour! What’s your name, young- handsome man” Jangjun says, inching towards Jaehyun dramatically. “Jaehyun-" Jaehyun says, looking around to the curious eyes around him. Jangjun smiled and then turned to the club, “He is honoured named ‘deep voice Jaehyun!’” Jangjun exclaimed while Mijoo squealed. Screams for Jaehyun echoed through the club, sparking a few red splotches across Jaehyun’s cheeks. 

***

While everyone packed up the props and arranged the tables, the room was rather quiet. Jaehyun was one of the last ones to leave, slowly dropping out of consciousness realising how much fun he had today. He was woken from his trance, as a hand softly touched his shoulder. 

“Hey Jaehyun, you alright?” Jangjun said concern etched onto his face, “Yeah, just zoning out,” Jaehyun said. “Everyone’s stories about soulmates and just drama in general really moved me, I don’t think I’ve met such passionate people,” staring into Jangjun’s sad eyes. “Hey, Jangjun Hyung, you alright?” Jaehyun said, suddenly confused at the sudden atmosphere change. 

“You’re a cool kid Jaehyun- but you know. Wow, I’m getting emotional!” Jangjun wiped his eyes with the edge of his sweater paws, “Jaehyun do you believe in soulmates?” Jangjun asked, silence in the room dropping to a 0. That was it- like a bomb, Jaehyun has no idea how to answer to such a sudden question, “I don’t” Jaehyun answered simply. Jangjun looked into Jaehyun’s eyes with sincerity, before turning his gaze back to the front of the classroom.

“I don’t have a soulmate.”

Jaehyun was taken aback, that small mark he had hated for his whole life, was something someone else yearned for so much. Jangjun, someone with such enthusiasm and vigour, hid something as paining as this. Looking at Jangjun reminded him of his dad. Jaehyun quietly brought Jangjun into a hug, hearing his soft cries blend into the silence. 

***

Jaehyun quietly walked into his dorm after sending Jangjun off first. He walked in to see Jibeom and Joochan fighting over a cereal box. Jaehyun’s reaction? To walk right back out.

“Seriously guys, can’t you be mature for like- 1 second? Why the hell is there cereal all over the fucking floor. Jibeom, I should really call Donghyun so he can lecture you because now my floor is covered with crumbs and icing sugar” Jaehyun exclaimed, voice cracking because of his unusually deep voice.

The name ‘Donghyun' sent shivers all over Joochan’s body and he had no idea why! As Joochan discovered 2 seconds later from Jaehyun’s very- very loud scream, he had dropped the box on the floor, causing even more cereal to fall. 

***

“You two. I- how did you even meet and why did the fates make you meet?” Jaehyun said, furrowing his eyebrows obviously still angry. “Well that’s actually an interesting story,” Jibeom said glancing at Joochan’s face, that was unusually distracted. “We met at summer camp!” Jibeom exclaimed as he slapped Joochan on the back, trying to bring him back into the conversation, “A vocal summer camp ” Jibeom further explained. 

“We met because we were intentionally put into a group with Seungmin-hyung and Sungyoon-hyung,” Joochan nodded along. “We really were different. I was annoying and Sungyoon Hyung was really just cold- and Jibeom and Seungmin were always the ones that tried to bring us two together.” Joochan said, smiling at Jibeom. 

Jaehyun didn’t see their utmost compassion for each other a lot, but when you look hard Jaehyun could see the love and thankfulness in each other's eyes. “There was an incident when we finished that camp,” Jibeom said, burying his head into Joochan’s shoulder. 

“When I went back to school after that camp, I gained a lot of confidence. I joined the choir and became popular and people didn’t like that. Eventually, I was a target and bullied to the point where I quit everything- I stopped talking to Joochan or anyone else,” Jaehyun nodded, not missing Joochan’s darkened expression. 

“Sungyoon-hyung was really sick of it, he came to find me at school, realising that I quit choir- he looked around till he found me in my darkest moments. I grew closer to him, he convinced my parents to move to a school where Joochan and Seungmin-hyung studied at,” Jibeom said, expression curling up into a smile. “We grew closer after that. Even if they’re all annoying, I love them!” Jibeom said, proceeding to slap Joochan on the back multiple times. 

Joochan groaned, eventually slapping Jibeom back until they used Jaehyun’s fluffy pillows to beat each other up. Jaehyun was tired, emotionally and physically. He didn’t know how to help Jangjun or Jibeom, but he would always try to help them. Jaehyun smiled as he ignored the two, wondering if the bullying was the reason Jibeom took melatonin…


	8. ~ when life decides to make you realise that maybe you like your friend ~

Jaehyun bit his lip nervously, waiting outside of his lecture hall. Jibeom offered to collect the results for the assignment they had put sleepless nights and work-heavy days into. To say ‘Jaehyun was nervous’ was an understatement, this was their first major assignment. Jaehyun would be heartbroken if the effort they had put into the assignment had gone to waste. 

***

Jibeom was the last person to collect his result, Jibeom wasn’t nervous but rather anticipating. Jaehyun had a lot of self-doubt in the last few weeks, and Jibeom wanted to make him happy. 

“Kim Jibeom and Bong Jaehyun?” The teacher proposed looking through his glasses that were perched onto the edge of his nose. “One of my personal favourites, I always tell my students that instead of going the easy route- take the time to find concepts you’re interested in. You’ll have fun and your end product will be more pleasing! That’s how music works! The dynamics between you and your partner worked perfectly. I think you two will group up to be very talented musicians, here is your results. You should probably open it with your partner.”

Jibeom was ecstatic, at the feedback he was given, he bowed gratefully and smiled. “Thank you.” The teacher returned a loving smile before he called the next student. 

***

Jibeom walked out of the lecture hall, meeting an extremely irritated Jaehyun. Jaehyun’s eyes widened “What took you so long!- is that the result? Oh my god- I don’t want to open it! Jibeom open it like 3 kilometres away from me and then kill me if we do bad alright?” Jibeom chuckled at Jaehyun’s adorable rambling, “Ok- you don’t want to see the score, why don’t we bet on it?” Jaehyun raised his eyebrows, “Yah, Jibeom this is no betting matter!” “Yeah, but you’re sad and I want to make you happy!” “So how is a bet going to help?” Jaehyun said, starting to fume. 

“Dye your hair,” Jibeom said, grinning. 

“What?” Jaehyun said, shocked. “If you believe that we’re going to fail and we don’t, you have to dye your hair!” Jibeom explained. Jaehyun didn’t know what to say, “Are you scared? Is little Jaehyunie scared?” Jibeom teases in a high pitch voice. 

“What? No! just open it already!” Jaehyun said, snatching the envelope from Jibeom’s hands, “I’m taking that as a yes!” Jibeom singsonged. A beat of silence passed before Jaehyun opened the envelope. Something in Jibeom’s heart said to hold Jaehyun’s hand in that exact moment, but Jibeom restricted himself. 

“An A+?” Jaehyun questioned loudly, “Jibeom we got an A+!” Jaehyun said as he pulled Jibeom into a small hug, before pulling back with the biggest smile he’d ever seem. “You know you look beautiful when you smile right?” Jibeom said, slowly pushing Jaehyun stray hairs behind his ear, enjoying the sight of his slightly red ears. “Wh- what?” Jaehyun spluttered while smacking Jibeom playfully. 

“You’d look even better with blonde hair, or like an outrageous platinum blonde” Jibeom quotes while making hand gestures that exaggerate his words, Jaehyun just pushed him weakly groaning, before standing quietly. 

“I’ll do it, I’ll do it for you so you stop annoying the shit out of me,” Jaehyun said, suddenly looking at the ground as if it was the most interesting thing in the world. “Then let’s go right now!”

***

Jaehyun looked around the parlour, it was filled with fashionable ladies with trendy haircuts and display pictures posted around the room. Lofi music was played as a soft lull from the speakers, the lighting was dim and cool. The vibe from the parlour was very… Jibeom. Chill and cool, also really cute and Jaehyun has no idea why. 

“This is one of my favourite parlours! I got my hair done here for my graduation, so it has a really special place in my heart.” Jibeom explained as he sat in the fluffy chairs that reminded Jaehyun of his special pillows that Joochan frequently stole. “They’re really good, your hair will be cared for so don’t worry! Also, I’ll pay for it- the shop owner loves me so I get discounts” Jibeom explained while winking at the end. 

“Jesus Jibeom, you’re such a dork- like is all of this necessary? Why do you need to convince me to dye my hair? Like you could’ve bought me dinner or something, but no- you have to dye my hair?” Jaehyun blurted, obviously conflicted. 

“Jaehyun, you’ve been really stressed for the last few weeks. I wanted to make you laugh, or do something memorable for you. Why is that wrong?” Jibeom’s serious tone surprised Jaehyun. Jaehyun was speechless, he really had no idea what to say. “Thanks” Jaehyun mumbled, looking up at a softly smiling Jibeom. 

***

“Yah, Kim Jibeom get here! I look like a fucking Asian Ken doll!”

Jibeom has never run faster in his life and has never felt so attacked in his life. 

There he was, Bong Jaehyun in all his glory. His hair looked softer and was no longer a muted red but platinum blonde. Jibeom hated to admit it but he’s never seen someone who could pull off such an obnoxious colour so easily. 

“Does it look alright? My head feels amazing and clean though” Jibeom was really surprised. His cheeks looked more squishy and his brown eyes looked softer, he looked hot and cute at the same time, and Jibeom didn’t even know how someone could pull that off! 

“It suits you a lot, it suits you too much honestly,” Jibeom said quietly, shivering in the cold winter of Seoul. “What does that even mean? You’ve been so weird today I swear to go-“ “It means that you’ll look great for the performance ball that’s coming up!” Jibeom interrupted, hoping to change the subject.

“What? Wait there is a ball? A performance ball?” Jaehyun questioned, obviously very surprised. “Mmhm, it happens every year! Because it’s an arts college it gives a chance for the students to showcase our talents. The freshman don't really have to do anything, well except the dance majors. Only when you become a sophomore we contribute to the ball, we’ll have fun and we should cherish it since we don’t need to do anything!” Jibeom exclaimed.

“I never knew this existed- wait Jibeom do we bring dates?” Jaehyun said, turning to a stoic Jibeom, “I don’t know- do you like someone?” Jibeom said facing Jaehyun with a curious expression. “What? No! I’m just excited jeez- you’re so weird- let’s just go!” Jaehyun rambled as he sped up, on his way back to his dorm.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> GAAH I UPLOADED IT A MONTH LATER YES I'M TERRIBLY SORRY! I know it was a long wait, but here is some bongbeom fluff <3 I hope you like it~~


	9. ~ when life decides to make you awkward in every way possible ~

After Jibeom’s explanation of the ball, the next few weeks were hectic for Jaehyun. His assignments and workload had softened a bit after receiving the major assignment back, nonetheless, he had arranged his dad to bring his suit, the one he wore for his aunt's wedding. It had been previously covered with soda stains so Jaehyun made the effort to dry clean it, not to mention all the accessories he had bought. This was his first ‘ball’ after all. As Jaehyun holds his suit out into the air, he wonders what the night would soon be like. 

***

“Holy shit, Jaehyun. This is so uncomfortable, these earrings are so heavy!” Joochan complained as Jaehyun adjusted his collar slightly. “Shut up, you’ll thank me later,” Jaehyun says, smiling at his masterpiece, now named Hong Joochan. His blazer was a muted orange that matched his hair, he had a simple white shirt with black slacks. For once, Joochan looked quite sophisticated, his hair was neatly groomed and his clothes were nicely ironed. 

“Woah- Jaehyun! Isn’t this a bit too much” Joochan questioned, itching to run his hand through his permed hair. “It’s a ball Joochan, plus you have to look good today. It’s a ball!” Jaehyun ran his hands down his clothes, in an attempt of smoothing the small crinkles along his grey suit. It was almost 8 pm, Jaehyun couldn’t count the number of times he had checked his appearance, strangely nervous for some reason. Jaehyun spaced out, trying to find the reason he was so nervous also while trying to calm himself down. 

His internal dialogue was cut when a small gap appeared through the door of their dorm. 

***

Jibeom words were once cut off again, both Joochan and Jaehyun looked stunning. Jibeom looked severely underdressed despite his small efforts to make himself look presentable.  
“Oh, Jibeom! Come here” Jaehyun said, raising his hairbrush in the air. “He’s really good at this stuff,” Joochan said, gesturing to the spill of cosmetics on the floor. 

Jaehyun analysed Jibeom’s face, almost too close for Jibeom’s comfort. “Mm! You look nice, better than Joochan at-least” Jaehyun said, backing away from his face in order to search through his bags. “Yah! I can hear you! I’m sure someone will compliment me today!” Joochan said, walking back from the kitchen with a cookie in his hand. Jaehyun and Jibeom share a small knowing smirk, “I’m sure they will” Jaehyun commented, adjusting Jibeom’s bangs before retracting his hands to wipe them. “How much gel did you even use! Jesus, next time we have an event let me do your hair okay? You’re already an embarrassment” Jaehyun said, dodging a small punch before holding a small clip embellished with jewels. 

“It’s for your blazer pocket, you can use it whenever you want.” Jaehyun’s tongue poked out as he edged the clip onto the blazer, “Is it like a present?” Jibeom held Jaehyun’s hand, in order to stop him from walking away, “Yeah, it’s not that big of a deal” Jaehyun said blankly, before walking into another room. 

“Wow- whipped,” Joochan said, inching closer to Jibeom, cuddling into his shoulder as he sighed. 

***

The theatre they had seen on the first day of arrival had completely transformed. 

Disco balls were now elegant chandeliers that hung beautifully from the ceiling. The dim lighting was now brighter, giving a fresh and formal atmosphere. The real beauty of the large theatre was bought out by the small changes. Students with perfectly groomed hair and dresses stood around the whole theatre. Almost like the scene was taken straight out of a drama. 

“Holy fucking shit, this is so grand!- masks?” Joochan’s gaze was set on a small crowd, faces adorned with plain black masquerade masks. “It’s the dance majors Jooch, they demonstrate the ‘ballroom dancing’” Jibeom explained, “apparently they’ve been practising a lot, and people have dressed up so much just to dance with them,” Jaehyun said as he sighed. “They choose who they want to dance with?” Joochan’s eyebrows furrowed before a large smile plastered onto his face. “Well, I’m mostly here for the food. I saw pizza, I’m going to get some” Joochan skipped towards the food. 

“Will he be okay? Care to spill?” Jaehyun snaked his hand around Jibeom’s shoulder as Jibeom gulped, “I really can’t say right now Jaehyun, I swear after this whole thing is over I’ll tell you” Jibeom watched as Jaehyun’s gaze turned into hurt expression, slowly removing his hands from around Jibeom’s shoulders. It’s only the start, yet he’s already screwed his chances. 

***

Jaehyun gazed at the theatre stage, stuck in a semi-conscious state as he watched the drama students place around, reciting lines. “Having fun, Jaehyun?” Jaehyun turns to see the adorable sight of Seungmin-hyung and Youngtaek-hyung together with intertwined hands. It was quite a rare sight, from first glance you’d never guess they were soulmates. “Hello, hyungs! Truly embracing the ball spirit I see?” Jaehyun glanced towards their hands. 

“Oh shut up Jaehyun! Don’t treat your hyungs like that, by the way where is your lover boy?” Seungmin raised his eyebrows in a teasing manner while Youngtaek chuckled. “lover boy?” Jaehyun questioned, “Ah, Seungmin! He’s one of those dense main characters” Tag said, patting Jaehyun’s shoulder. “You’ll see one day,” Seungmin said after hugging Jaehyun. To say Jaehyun was confused was an understatement. 

 

***

“Yah, Kim Jibeom why aren’t you with Jaehyun right now?” Joochan said, taking a seat next to Jibeom. “He’s socialising, I’m not in the mood for it. Plus aren’t you the one who ditched us for food?” Jibeom dramatically stood up, as Joochan cackled loudly. “I’d ditch anyone for food” Joochan commented while smiling brightly. “You idiot, what about when you meet your soulmate? Will you ditch them for food?” 

Jibeom kept on thinking of Donghyun, of course, today was his night. Joochan furrowed his eyebrows “My soulmate should hate me, I should’ve never said those things. I don’t really know who my soulmate is, but If they show the same love I show to them then maybe- maybe I won’t ditch them for food.” Joochan smiled, trying to make light of the situation. 

“Wow you got really deep there, my dude,” Jibeom said, patting Joochan’s shoulder. Joochan furrowed his eyebrows as he looked off into the distance. “Wait, why is there a crowd there?” Jibeom grinned, “Let's go, my dude!” Jibeom commented as he dragged Joochan through the crowd. 

***

Joochan jaw dropped, a circle had formed around the middle of the theatre where the dance majors stood. Excited chattering filled the room, Joochan really didn’t have a place here. He knew that he would rather be near the food table, nicking food when no-one was looking. Joochan noticed the wave of tension between Jibeom and Jaehyun as he was pushed into the middle of them while they stood waiting for the dancing to commence. 

“Did something happen- between you two?” Joochan turned his head to both of them, noticing them avoiding his gaze. “Nope, nothing at all!” Jaehyun squeaked, while Jibeom nodded his head and cleared his throat. “Y-yeah, just let’s watch alright?” Jibeom retorted, fixing his gaze off the dancers who were taking their positions. Joochan sighed, feeling so out of place. He never liked being in such a crowd, he was either the one who had all the attention or had none. Being a spectator here felt so weird like he was being forced like it was fate. 

“Dancers, you may choose your partners” the dance major announced, who was conveniently masked. The dance majors also masked walked slowly around the theatre asking for a dance. Joochan rolled his eyes, using Jibeom’s shoulder as an armrest. 

Until. Everything froze, the noise in the background became to a soft murmur almost non-existent. Why do you ask? Because in front of Joochan stood a short male, hair looking softer than silk and an adorable smirk plastered over his face as he put out his hand, asking Joochan for a dance.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ooooooooohhhh! what gonna happen next? lol yes another chapter because I was excited and your support was so loving I couldn’t not <3 thank you guys~~~
> 
> (next chapter- that’s all I’m saying-)


	10. ~ when life decides to make you finally, fall in love ~

Joochan had no words. He was shocked, inside his head he was freaking out, why is someone asking HIM of all people to dance! But what confused Joochan the most was why a BOY was asking him! A grand ball like this was meant to be majestic, a girl and a boy in perfect harmony. Of course, Joochan didn’t mind, but he didn’t get it! Why him of all people, after entering college all he’s received was a bad impression, someone who was impulsive and aggressive. 

“I- I’m sorry, but you’re a boy!” Joochan blurted, before covering his mouth. The shine in the boy’s eyes dimmed, like the glow was taken from the moon. His smile disappeared, his soft hair fell in front of his eyes in rejection. Joochan really thought it was a prank, but maybe it wasn’t. Maybe the dance really was for him. The boy lifted his head again with a glare that stabbed Joochan’s heart, he took a step to the side and instead put his hand out to ask Jaehyun for a dance which Jaehyun gasped at, with a huge smile on his face. 

“What the hell? no!” Jibeom said, shoving the boy’s hand away from Jaehyun’s. “Stop running away,” Jibeom told to the boy, extremely stern and in an, unlike Jibeom manner. 

It suddenly made sense, Jibeom was protecting Jaehyun because he liked him! Joochan couldn’t let Jaehyun have this dance, so instead, he proceeded to step to the side and push Jaehyun into Jibeom’s arms while bending into a deep bow. “I’m extremely sorry, I’ll be glad to be your dance,” Joochan said, sounding as sincere as possible. The boy cocked his head, still hesitant to take his hand. But in the end, he gracefully took Joochan’s hand, leading him to the centre of the room. 

***

Joochan couldn’t help but notice how unbelievably soft his hands were, how their hands seemed to fit perfectly together, how he wanted nothing but to run his hand through his beautifully groomed soft hair. But that was extremely, extremely gay and Joochan couldn’t hurt this boy after what he’d already done. 

As he moved into position, the boy moved closer to his ear softly whispering “one of your hands is supposed to be on my waist.” Joochan’s face immediately reddened, softly placing his hand above his hips careful not to hurt him, noticing just how skinny and feminine his figure was. “Follow my lead” he mouthed, as the music abruptly started. Joochan couldn’t stop staring at him, he was so conflicted. 

The experience the dancer had was evident with the way he skillfully moved around the dance floor. Joochan needed to step along with the beat, the boy carried the rest of his dance on his shoulders. Joochan thought of the stares he would be receiving, dancing with a boy. But at a certain point, he just didn’t care anymore. His heart felt fulfilled, unusually content just at the contact. His heart would flutter every time he moved his attention back to the boy’s smile. The mask covered up most of the boy’s face, Joochan would say it was unfortunate but at least it kept his feelings at bay. 

The soothing music faded into the background, as Joochan’s smile dropped. He had no idea who this boy is, nor what his name was. This would the last time he probably ever saw him. He watched as the boy gracefully bowed, almost walking away. Joochan mustered his confidence, catching onto his sleeve in the nick of time. The boy looked up at him, with adorably widened eyes. “Wh- what’s your name?” Joochan says, moving his hand to intertwine his fingers with this boy’s. He didn’t know why he did it, it just felt so right. He saw the boy’s expression soften before sighing softly. 

The boy slowly pushed Joochan’s sleeve up his arm, “Hey, what are you doing?

Joochan’s heart stopped as the boy turned his arm, placing a soft kiss on his soulmate mark and then his hand. Before he could say anything next, the boy, literally ran away, not looking back even once. Joochan glanced back at his arm, eyes widening in shock. His mark burned, the usual colour black, now a deep orange. 

This boy, he was Joochan’s soulmate. 

***

Jibeom watched Joochan scurry back to Jaehyun and himself, eyes widened in fear. Jibeom smirked, knowing his plan succeeded. 

“Guys! I just found my soulmate-“ Joochan said, breathlessly. “What? Really?” Jaehyun questioned after attacking Joochan is a big hug. “That guy I danced with, he ki- he’s my soulmate!” Joochan said, looking at Jibeom almost desperately. “Then what are you doing? Go run after him, Joochan, he’s your soulmate!” Jibeom said, gesturing to the big door, smiling wide. “Your right- thanks Jibeom!” Joochan perked, with a newfound determination. 

“You knew about this the whole time, didn’t you?” Jaehyun questioned as Joochan had run out of the theatre. Jibeom sighed, watching Jaehyun’s confused expression. “Why don’t we go somewhere else?” Jibeom asked, gesturing towards the crowd which Jaehyun immediately agreed to, packing his stuff almost instantly. 

***

After the two left the theatre, the found a small cafe to sit at. “So, what’s going on? Why are you being so secretive so lately? Do you know how much your ignorance hurts m-“ “Donghyun” Jibeom interrupted with a stoic expression. Jaehyun couldn’t believe it, his face hurtful. “I’m not important to you anymore? Why Donghyun, don’t you think I haven’t noticed how you’ve been avoiding me. Did I do something wrong, h-has Donghyun replaced me?” Jaehyun blurted, almost disgusted at Jibeom, while Jibeom couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “W- What? Wait! Jaehyun, let me explain!” Jibeom said, putting his hands on his shoulders to explain. 

“Donghyun, I was helping him prepare for the ball. Well, because he’s Joochan’s soulmate.” Jibeom slowly removed his hands from Jaehyun’s shoulder, enjoying the sight of Jaehyun’s shocked face. “I wanted to help Donghyun as much as possible, because he’s my friend and my best friend’s soulmate!” Jaehyun’s expression softened, “I’m sorry I couldn’t spend much time with you, or if it seemed like I was avoiding you. But in the end it was worth it, they know they’re soulmates. The rest is up to them” Jibeom gazed into the distance. 

“I swear, you’re such an idiot. You worried me so much” Jaehyun said, face brightening while slapping Jibeom’s shoulder playfully. “If mission dongchan doesn’t succeed I’m jumping into the lake next to our dorms” Jibeom exclaims, exhausted about his stressful night. “Mission dongchan? That is such a stupid name, but you know I could’ve helped?” Jaehyun’s expression turns serious. 

Jibeom senses the atmosphere, “Donghyun would’ve gotten too anxious, he would’ve given up. It was better if I kept to myself” Jibeom explained while Jaehyun frowned again. “Why wouldn’t you trust me? Joochan is my friend as well?” Jaehyun says, pulling his hand away from Jibeom’s. “What- no! Jaehyun why are you being so overprotective and sensitive all of a sudden?” Jibeom spat, extremely confused at why Jaehyun was so angry. “What? So now I can’t express my feelings to you?” Jaehyun said, almost raising in his seat. “You can! But I’m not your dog, nor are you my owner! I’m allowed to do my own things, why are you so angry is the real question here.” Jibeom lunged forward to grab Jaehyun’s wrist before he could run away. 

“Well, maybe it’s because I care about you!” Jaehyun yelled, tears welling up in his eyes. “Wha-“ “I like you Jibeom! A lot, and the thought of you leaving me pains me, okay?” Jaehyun said, turning his head to the floor. While Jibeom gaped, trying to sort the never-ending thoughts in his head. Jibeom decided to slowly lift Jaehyun’s hands, lifting his blazer sleeves slowly to hold his hands properly. “Jaehyun- wait. Jaehyun- your mark is glowing.”

“Wait, what?” Jaehyun immediately raised his arm to his face to see his mark glow a deep sea green. Jaehyun inspected his mark, forgetting about his previous embarrassing outburst. “But why all of a sudden, I haven’t even met anyone but you in the last 20 minutes!” Jaehyun’s eyebrows frowned before he snapped his eyes back to Jibeom realising what he just implied. 

Jibeom rolled his sleeves up, to reveal a mark with the same beautiful sea green glow. Jaehyun couldn’t believe it, the guy he’s been kind of crushing on was his soulmate. Jaehyun’s mind wanders back to all the times he felt so connected to Jibeom, like they had met because of fate. It made sense to Jaehyun. 

Jaehyun eye’s caught Jibeom’s gaze, brimming with adoration and love. Jaehyun couldn’t take the sight, noticing the fluttering sensation in his heart. Jibeom said nothing, but simply embraced Jaehyun’s shaking body. Jaehyun couldn’t take this, his mind thought back of the painful nights his father cried for someone to love, for someone to be there for him. He didn’t need Jibeom, Jaehyun needed to pull away from his. 

Jaehyun pushed weakly against Jibeom’s chest, “Jaehyun?” Jibeom whispered, voice full of pain, “I’m sorry. This can’t happen” Jaehyun whispered back, before packing up his things and leaving Jibeom alone in the blistering cold.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hahaha----
> 
> IM SO SORRY- IT JUST HAD TO HAPPEN!
> 
> I hope you enjoyed the chapter guys <3


	11. ~ when life really wants you to suffer ~

Jibeom flopped onto the couch, mindlessly shoving cereal into his mouth. “Hey, what’s wrong?” Donghyun prodded as he quietly sat down, facing Jibeom with concern. “Got rejected by my soulmate- the usual” Jibeom casually said, spooning more cereal into his mouth. 

“What? Wait, you found your soulmate?” Donghyun questioned, completely forgetting the fact Jibeom has been rejected. “Jaehyun”, “Wait, what? Seriously? Jaehyun rejected you?” Donghyun yelled with surprised, hitting Jibeom for an answer. “Yeah he did, he just said that this couldn’t happen. And left, Donghyun I must be so ugly right? Or I’m probably really dumb, or disgusting- I was being too desperate wasn’t I?” Jibeom said, blurting his insecurities while he buried his head in his lap. 

Donghyun’s face visibly softened “Hey Jibeom, you know that’s not true! Jaehyun would never be superficial like that, you know it yourself because you placed your trust in him! Instead of weeping, why don’t you go confront him? If not a soulmate, he’s still your best friend, okay?” Donghyun carefully patted his head, comforting him as much as he could. 

“You’re right…” Jibeom looked up, nerves relaxing as Donghyun smiled back. 

“Jibeom? You needed me?” 

Donghyun’s eyes widened as he saw Joochan peek through the door of their dorm, “Oh yeah, Donghyun I invited Joochan for some time” Jibeom said, subtly smirking as Donghyun face reddened. 

“Wait! You’re Jibeom’s roommate, right? I didn’t get to see you before, my name is Joochan!” Joochan said, mindlessly grabbing Donghyun’s hand to shake it. Joochan grinned, but his smile faltered when he saw the same deep orange burn against Donghyun’s pale white skin. The same colour that had shone on his soulmate’s pale white skin. 

Joochan’s eyes widened in realisation, looking at Donghyun’s adorable reddened ears “You’re my-“ Joochan started, but once again, before Joochan could say anything Donghyun had shook off Joochan’s hand and headed towards the door, faster than Joochan could ever run. 

Joochan started at his mark, the orange fading back to its usual black colour. 

“Jibeom your roommate was my soulmate, and you never told me?” Joochan said, with no real fire in his voice. 

“Joochan, I can’t help you, Donghyun is your soulmate, it was his wish to not tell you about it. I- he’s going to get really hurt if you don’t find him right now! You’ve been looking for the person you danced with, he’s the one so why are you still standing here?” Jibeom said, a smile evident in his voice, Jibeom slightly nudged him towards the door. “Go get him.”

***

Joochan ran down the stairs, mapping the campus in his head a looking for possibilities off where Donghyun had run off to. He sprints to the food room, scanning the almost empty room finding no trace. 

Joochan looked everywhere, panting and exhausted Joochan arrived at the dance studios. The secluded part of the campus which barely anyone but dance majors visited. Joochan bit his lip nervously, his heartbeat constantly for his soulmate, his adorable puffy cheeks and reddened ears. Joochan had only seen his face for a few seconds, but Joochan had already had his heart set out on him. He couldn’t remember the last time he felt like this. 

Joochan opened the doors, looking from the glass doors of the practice rooms. Something about his wild beating heart told him Donghyun was here. Joochan ran to the furthest dance room, the door painted with an orange similar to the one of his soulmate mark- Joochan knew he was here. 

Joochan peeked his head through the dance room, to spot a panting Donghyun lying on the floor, trying to catch his breath. Donghyun hearing the door opening, turned his head to look at the person opening the door. 

“Hi” Joochan shyly waved as Donghyun lifted himself off the floor. “What are you doing here?” Donghyun said, strong gaze boring through Joochan’s skull, behind that gaze was fear, uncertainty but most importantly, hope. 

“I looked around the whole campus for you, it took me 30 minutes to find you! 30 minutes and I don’t even get a proper hello?” Joochan said, sporting a small smile, but big enough to send Donghyun’s heart afire. 

“I really am sorry- I’m just scar-“ “For what?” Joochan said, sitting rather closely to Donghyun. “Of this whole thing! What- I don’t know?” Donghyun said, burying his head in his arms. 

“If you’re uncomfortable with the fact with being my soulmate, we can go… like, on a date? To get to know each other, if that makes you comfortable that is, I don’t want you to feel unco-“ Joochan was cut off by the adorable grin of Donghyun’s, “I’d- really like that” Donghyun said, turning his head away from Joochan in order to hide his extremely red ears. 

“Why are you so adorable” Joochan whispered under his breath, Donghyun’s cheeks turned a similar red like his ears as Joochan let out a hearty laugh before stretching out his hand for Donghyun to hold. Donghyun shyly took his hand, intertwining their fingers. Joochan lost himself in Donghyun’s sparkly brown eyes, like a pool of hope and love, Donghyun was extremely charming. His cheeks and cold personality were all charming, but his eyes just did something to Joochan’s heart and he doesn’t know how!

“Don’t look at me so lovingly,” Donghyun said, avoiding Joochan’s gaze, “Alright alright, where would you like to go?” Joochan asked, staring at Donghyun’s intertwined fingers. “Anywhere you’d like,” Donghyun whispered before looking back to Joochan who suddenly had a serious expression plastered on his face. “Why don’t we go get ice cream, but before that do you have any idea what happened to Jaehyun? He hasn’t left his room after the whole ball shindig and refuses to eat much” Joochan fiddles with Donghyun’s fingers, suddenly nervous and concerned.

“I don’t think it’s my place to say anything, but in the meantime could we possibly go get the ice cream you promised?” Donghyun says, hopefully looking up to Joochan. Joochan chuckles, opening his arms as a signal to lead the way. 

***

Jibeom takes a deep breathe in, before exhaling deeply as a way to keep his nerves down. Jibeom lifts his hand to press the doorbell of his soulmate’s dorm, the soulmate who wishes Jibeom wasn’t his. Jibeom’s heart twitches thinking about the memory. 

“I’m coming!” a yell that made Jibeom’s heartache. 

The door wedged open, to see a Jaehyun with bed hair sprawled adorable, wearing dog pyjamas. “You’re not Joochan…” Jaehyun whispers. “Obviously not, Jaehyun we seriously need to talk.” Jibeom took a step closer to Jaehyun as if he wasn’t going to leave unless he had his way. 

“Fine” Jaehyun quietly replied, opening the door wider so Jibeom could step in. 

Jibeom sat on the couch, the one that they had studied and laughed about stupid jokes, Jibeom grimaces at his past relationship with Jaehyun. It was just another reason that he has to fix this mishap quickly. 

The silent tension in the atmosphere was too much for Jibeom, he couldn’t stay silent like this. 

“Before you say anything Jaehyun, I have no idea why you don’t want this! I- I like you too, when you confessed to me before we found out we were soulmates, I was ecstatic! I don’t know why you suddenly refused! So please, please just explain, explain why you can’t be mine… ” Jibeom said, not looking away from Jaehyun’s fearful gaze. 

“Jibeom, I never wanted to tell you this. But I was adopted by my father because he never had a soulmate and he never had anyone to love! Growing up, seeing him cry was the worst thing a child could ever experience. You will never, ever understand my pain, and I can’t explain it either. I want to be a strong person, like my dad. He didn’t have a soulmate, so I don’t need one either. Jaehyun’s words trembled, fist clenched tightly. 

“Jaehyun, just because your dad didn’t have a soulmate. You don’t want to be with me? You’re going to leave me alone? If you leave me, I’ll never be able to love anyone, I’ll be the same as your da-“ “Don’t compare my father to yourself! I don’t believe in soulmates and if I ever did love you- I can’t anymore” Jaehyun said, looking back at the floor. 

Jibeom’s heart sunk, his body and muscles feeling loose. “Oh, okay- I’m sorry if I ever did anything wrong. I- I’ll leave now” Jibeom rose from the couch, letting out a sad sigh before walking towards the exit of Jaehyun’s dorm.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oMG wHAt’S goNNa hAppEn- haha guys! I hope you didn’t mine the wait~ I actually had the chapter half written and was buried by homework but then I sometime in my twt timeline on somebody always thinking about my fic! so I decided to finish it while I waited and bam! here you go <3
> 
> thanks for reading, love you all loads!!!

**Author's Note:**

> Hello Everyone! This is my first fic and I’ve contemplated on whether to post this or not. It’s not the best and my English isn’t the best, so I’m also treating this as a way to improve my English, so if anyone notices any problems or anything wrong with my writing please tell me so I can improve myself~ It’s quite short and boring, not to mention poorly written! but thank you for reading it! I have twitter (woah so cool) if you have feedback or suggestions on how to change the story dm me @golchaboo! 
> 
> yeah but idk how frequent I will update because my school is shit and likes to pile hw on me so yeah!
> 
> once again thank y’all!


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